August 5th in the Time Tunnel:
Happy Birthday to those who have passed on and to those great wrestlers still with us:
In Memoriam:
Mildred Burke 1915
JC Dykes 1926
Happy Birthday:
"Sweet" Stan Lane (72)
Pat Tanaka (62)
Kendo Kashin\Tokimitsu Ishikawa (57)
Nikkita Lyons\Faith the Lioness (26)
RIP Memorial: We stop & remember those who have passed on this day and gave themselves to the business for us, the fans. We salute you and thank you.
Fred Beall 8-5-1933 at the age of 57
Leo Newman 8-5-1992 at the age of 82
Al Tomko 8-5-2009 at the age of 77
Debut:
8-5-1972: Jim Lancaster (James Painter) has his debut match on Pittsburgh, PA TV. The match went 16 seconds vs Jim Grabmire
Lancaster, trained by Lou Klein in his gymnasium in Ohio, had his professional match on this day in Pro Wrestling History. Lancaster, who I had the pleasure of speaking to this past year, was inducted this Summer into the Ohio Sports Hall of Fame.
92-Year Flashback:
8-5-1933: Fred Beall, who was a Marshfield, Wisconsin police office and former American Heavyweight Champion was shot and killed while responding to a break-in at the Marshfield Brewing Company. As of this date, Beall remains the only Marshfield police office to have been killed in the line of duty.
Pictured: August 6th, 1933 Houston Chronicle. Houston, Texas
60-Year Flashback Championship Change
8-5-1965 Big Bill & Danny Miller defeated Cowboy Bill Watts & Gorilla Monsoon to win the WWWF United States Tag Team Championships 2 falls to 1 fall at the National Arena in Washington, DC
Pictured: Dr. Bill Miller and Dan Miller, new WWWF United States Tag Team Champions
Watts and Monsoon were a huge powerful heel team that had held the titles since April 8th when they had beaten Gene Kiniski and Waldo Von Erich, another really big pair of tough wrestlers.
One of the first things I wanted to know was who did the job in this match, since the Millers won two falls, and after digging and digging I found the recap in the Washington Daily News.
Watts lost one, then won one from Danny Miller and Monsoon lost the deciding fall to Dr. Bill.
Watts would face Sammartino in Baltimore for the WWWF Title two nights later on August 7th. Dr. Bill Miller had just beaten Sammartino in a DQ decision in Madison Square Garden the previous Monday night, August 2nd and he was scheduled to work against Monsoon in White Plains on Friday night, so all of these guys were in the top 8 guys figured in for the top of the cards.
Pictured: Ad from the Standard-Star in White Plains, New York
In an interesting note, Johnny Valentine and Bruno Sammartino were advertised to face Watts & Monsoon for the US Tag Titles on Friday, August 6th in Asbury Park, New Jersey.
The Evolution of Pro Wrestling: 1985
8/3-8/8/1985: World Class Championship Wrestling is in the middle of a six-day series of cards at Tel Aviv Stadium in Israel, which draws a combined 35,000 to 40,000 fans and total gate receipts of $400,000.
The wrestlers work on "hard as asphalt" rings and several of the crew suffer injuries. Johnny Mantell has a knee injury. Kelly Kiniski injures his hip, and Mike Von Erich has a shoulder injury that requires surgery.
On the tour are: Kevin & Mike Von Erich, Iceman Parsons, Brian Adias, Johnny Mantell, Rip Oliver, Buddy Roberts, Scott Casey, Gino Hernandez, Kelly Kiniski.
8/5/1985: Jumbo Tsuruta is admitted to Keio University Hospital for elbow pain, which requires a three-hour surgery. During this visit, he learns from a blood test that he is infected with Hepatitis B and soon starts medication for the condition. None of this would be revealed to the public for years afterward.
One Thing I Learned Today About Pro Wrestling History
Mildred Burke, who was the subject of the recent movie, Queen of the Ring, was born in Coffeyville, Kansas. Remarkably, she held the World Women's Title from 1937 until 1954.
Thank You for Reading
I'm Tony Richards, Pro Wrestling Historian, Author and Storyteller. I share pro wrestling historical items in each issue of the Time Tunnel Pro Wrestling History Newsletter. Thanks for reading! If you enjoy my information on select events, matches and insights, please share it with folks you think might like to be a subscriber!
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This is great stuff! Thank you for posting.
I would be honored if you did so, sir. Thank you